Biesemeyer will join Weibrecht at Olympics

January 19, 2018

KITZBUEHEL, Austria - Tommy Biesemeyer of Keene and Andrew Weibrecht of Lake Placid clinched spots on the United States Olympic alpine team based on their World Cup rankings following Friday's super-G results in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

The duo will compete in the Olympic Games, which take place Feb. 9 through 25 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Weibrecht, a two-time Olympic medalist, finished 24th on Friday to bump his World Cup points total up to 30. Biesemeyer finished 26th Friday and has 36 World Cup points this season.

It will be Biesemeyer's first Olympic Games after a knee injury derailed his hopes for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. He returned to action for the 2014-15 season, and recorded a career-best eighth-place finish two years later in December 2016 in Santa Caterina, Italy.

Biesemeyer, who turns 29 years old on Jan. 30, had a season-best 18th-place finish in the World Cup super-G event in Val Gardena, Italy in December.

Weibrecht will be making his third Olympic appearance, and has built a reputation for rising to the occasion at the Winter Games. In 2010, he came out of nowhere to win the super-G bronze medal in his Olympic debut, and in 2014, he came back and upset teammate Bode Miller for the silver medal in Sochi. That came after four years of injuries and illnesses - and never having finished on the World Cup podium.

Weibrecht is one of just five U.S. men who have won multiple Olympic medals in alpine skiing, joining Ted Ligety, Phil Mahre, Miller and Tommy Moe.

Weibrecht, 31, claimed his first podium finish on the World Cup circuit in December 2015, placing third in Beaver Creek, Colorado. The following month, he was second in Kitzbuehel.

So far this season, Weibrecht has picked up two 21st-place finishes: in November at Lake Louise in Alberta and then at Beaver Creek in December.